Hotel restrictions for foreigners.

I just came back from a trip to China (Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau this time) and I booked my hotels on booking.com and hostelworld.com and I got my visa, so I guess that isn't an issue anymore :)

Also a friend booked an airbnb and also got her visa approved. Have fun in China

There are still problems with this, and it's not rare for a foreigner to be refused lodging, even at larger two- or three-star places. Like much in China, enforcement varies.

Booking on the English websites of booking.com, Agoda, ctrip, and elong will usually provide a hotel that will accept you, though read the hotel descriptions carefully because sometimes these sites will list a hotel and then note "Chinese citizens only" or some such.

Last year I booked my stay in Hongcun via ctrip, a Chinese booking portal. When I arrived at the hotel, the manager was a bit embarassed and told me he couldn't issue an invoice because he didn't have the licence to host foreigners.

But he let you stay?

(Chinese hotels sometimes don't want to issue formal invoices even to Chinese guests, presumably as a tax play.)

So what is your choice if you arrive in a town and no hotel wants to host you?

This is very unlikely, unless you really want to wander into some provincial town in Manchuria where they haven't seen a laowai since the Red Army(the Soviet one) kicked out the Japanese.

Hop into a taxi. The driver might know which hotel takes foreigners, or at least he may find more hotels to try than you on your own.

Or go to the PSB station to ask for help. If they understand what you want they might know which hotel accepts foreigners or in case there isn't any they might convince a hotel to accept you if they don't want to loose their face by not being able to help a tourist finding a place to stay. I might be wrong though, this is China after all and anything and the opposite can happen.

In short: Don't worry!

It really depends on the province. I've had no end of trouble in Hebei, a lot of towns only have 1 or 2 four star hotels that accept foreigners. I was in Chengde one night and there were no beds left for foreigners as at the time there were only a handful of places that were licenced.

You will always find a place to stay. Usually when a place refuses you they'll point to the nearest hotel that'll take you (which will probably be a lot more expensive). Or you can try your luck at some other one- and two-star places nearby first. Or look up the city on the booking sites and see what's listed.

If you haven't been to China before, it's also important to understand that there are lots and lots of hotels in Chinese towns and cities, especially around train stations. Often, that's not the most salubrious area, but you can almost always find something there with some legwork. (But legwork gets tiring after a while, so you'll probably come to appreciate the convenience of the booking sites.)

But he let you stay?

Yes.